The UPA coordination committee, which met here Wednesday night, decided to fight a full-scale war against the BJP.
The meeting, held against the backdrop of the current logjam in Parliament, was attended by top UPA leaders, including chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
The meeting was told that the BJP has decided to fight its war against the Prime Minister in three phases. First, create a logjam; second, quit parliamentary committees; and third, resign from the Lok Sabha.
If the BJP does not allow Parliament to function, it was suggested that the PM should then make a statement on the alleged “coalgate” scam outside Parliament. And the government will approach the Election Commission to hold byelections in case the BJP members of the Lok Sabha decide to resign, sources said. The UPA leaders dismissed as “unreasonable” the BJP’s stalling of Parliament on the coal block allocation issue and its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and stood by the government’s offer to discuss the subject in the House.
“The stand taken by the BJP and its partners, that they will not allow discussion of the subject nor allow Parliament to function, is unreasonable. On that, all UPA partners are agreed,” Union finance minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting.
“We discussed the impasse in Parliament and unanimously agreed that the offer made by the Prime Minister, that we are willing to discuss any subject in Parliament, including the CAG reports, must be reaffirmed and restated,” he added.
“Tomorrow, the Leader of the House will restate the position again, that we are willing to discuss any subject on the floor of the House. This is a reasonable position...,” he said.
Mr Chidambaram said the next meeting would be held in the second week of September. Asked what issues were discussed, he said, “All issues that are currently engaging the government, all issues that are likely to arise in the next month. These are issues concerning the polity, concerning the economy and relations with neighbouring countries.”